A DWARF FAMILY. 173

although they had only themselves to blame for what had hap-
pened. Soon the new mistress ruled all the Court of Savoy,
whose sovereign was at her feet as before a goddess. She dis-
posed of the favours of her lover, and was feared and courted
by the ministry. Her haughtiness made her hated; she was
poisoned; M. de Savoie gave her a subtle antidote, which
fortunately cured her, and without injury to her beauty. Her
reign still lasted. After a while she had the small pox. M.
de Savoie tended her during this illness, as though he had been
.a nurse; and although her face suffered a little by it, he loved
her not the less. But he loved her after his own fashion. He
kept her shut up from view, and at last she grew so tired of
her restraint that she determined to fly. She conferred with
her brother, the Chevalier de Luynes, who served with much
•distinction in the navy, and together they arranged the matter.
They seized an opportunity when M. de Savoie had gone on
a tour to Chambery, and departed furtively. Crossing our
frontier, they arrived in Paris, where the Comtesse de Verrue,
who had grown very rich, took a house, and by degrees suc-
ceeded in getting people to come and see her, though, at first,
•owing to the scandal of her life, this was difficult. In the end,
her opulence gained her a large number of friends, and she
.availed herself so well of her opportunities, that she became of
much importance, and influenced strongly the government.
But that time goes beyond my memoirs. She left in Turin a
son and a daughter, both recognised by M. de Savoie, after
the manner of our King. He loved passionately these il-
legitimate children, and married the daughter to the Prince
-de Carignan.

Mademoiselle de Cond6 died at Paris on October 24th, after
a long illness, from a disease in the chest, which consumed her
less than the torments she experienced without end from M. le
Prince, her father,, whose continual caprices were the plague of
all those over whom he could exercise them. Almost all the
children of M. le Prince were little bigger than dwarfs, which
•caused M. le Prince, who was tall, to say in pleasantry, that if
his race went on always thus diminishing it would come to